First interview: Chelsea Clinton may seek office

Chelsea Clinton has given her first-ever comprehensive interview, and hints to Vogue that she may follow in the footsteps of her parents Bill and Hillary and someday run for elective office.

The former “first daughter,” long sheltered from the media, has begun to embrace public life, from appearances in her mother’s 2008 presidential campaign to attendance (with entourage) at last winter’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“Before my mom’s campaign, I would have said no: Not because it was something I had thought a lot about but because people have been asking me my whole life,” she told Jonathan Van Meter of Vogue.

Chelsea Clinton speaks at 'A Night Out With The Millennium Network,' at the Old Vic Tunnels, presented by The Clinton Foundations and The Reuben Foundation. The evening, hosted by Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Gwyneth Paltrow and Will i Am took place on the May 22, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Clinton Foundation Fundraiser)

“Even during my father’s 1984 gubernatorial campaign, it was, ‘Do you want to grow up and be governor one day’? ‘No, I am 4.’ ”

Chelsea Clinton says she has voted in every election and considers voting to be “part of being a good person.” As to office, she added:

“And I certainly believe that part of helping to build a better world is ensuring that we have political leaders who are committed to that premise. So, if there were to be a point where it was something I felt called to do, and I didn’t think there was someone who was committed to building a healthier, more just, more equitable, more productive world?

“Then that would be a question I’d have to ask, and answer.”

The Vogue profile, due on newsstands Aug. 21, reveals a far more glamorous Chelsea Clinton that the teenager whose appearance was ridiculed at a 1996 Bob Dole rally by KVI talk host (now Republican State Chairman) Kirby Wilbur.

The “first daughter” was an only child, and a kind of anchor to the on-the-go, precisely scheduled lives of her parents.

Once, during Bill Clinton’s first term, she had a teacher-student conference scheduled at Sidwell Friends School in northwest Washington. Chelsea showed up, with profuse apologies, 40 minutes late.

The reason: President Clinton had woken up the wee hours of the morning at the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Seattle, and called his daughter at the White House. In true Bill Clinton fashion, she couldn’t get him off the phone.

Huma Abeden, deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Clinton, talked to Vogue about Chelsea Clinton, and her increased involvement with her father’s foundation.

“I see a light switched: ‘This is the legacy I’m going to inherit,'” said Abeden. “To say it is an incredible one is an understatement. She now knows that in 20, 30 years, everything about her father’s legacy is in her hands.”

And her mother’s legacy. Hillary Clinton has made clear her intention to leave the State Department, get needed rest and write what promises to be a fascinating book about a successful foreign policy.

The 2016 Democratic nomination, which she insists that she does not want, would be hers for the asking.